Mrs. Laura Bush presents the Fifth Annual Preserve America History Teacher of the Year award to David Mitchell, right, Friday, Oct. 24, 2008, at the Union League Club in New York City. She is joined by Dr. James Basker, President, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, left, and David Mitchell's students from Masconomet Regional High School in Boxford, Mass., David Burbank, 17, and Molly Byman, 18. The award notes the importance of teaching history and highlights the Preserve America initiative. White House photo by Chris Greenberg

MRS. BUSH: Last year, I presented this award to the family of another
First Lady -- one First Lady that I've always admired -- Lady Bird Johnson.
I'm honored to join her company tonight as the second recipient of the
National Park Foundation's Founders Award. Thank you all very, very much.
(Applause.)

And thanks to Regan and Roland for your very kind words tonight. Thanks to
everybody that's here that was in the video. That was really great to see
the superintendents and the kids. And thanks very much for that lovely
video.

I want to acknowledge Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the Secretary of Interior
and the Chairman of the National Park Foundation; Vin Cipolla, President
and CEO of the National Park Foundation, and Celine, his wife, who is with
him; Director Mary Bomar, Director of the National Park Service; all of the
National Park Foundation board members that you saw a minute ago when they
stood up. And congratulations to Discovery Communications on being
recognized for your leadership in corporate philanthropy for our national
parks.

Thanks to all of the national park fans, nature enthusiasts, history buffs,
and the rest of our distinguished guests tonight.

Maybe you remember your first camping trip in a national park -- awakening
to chirping birds and the light of a new day, or awakening to the crash of
thunder and a torrential downpour and it flattens your tent. (Laughter.)
You might remember watching a teenage moose walk through your campground,
or wearing goggles and a bandana over your nose and mouth to protect
yourself against a sandstorm in the Grand Canyon. You might remember being
startled when a tree fell right next to your cabin -- interrupting a cozy
bridge game on a rainy night. And you probably don't remember this, but I
remember watching the Secret Service sprint towards the crash site in great
alarm. (Laughter.)

All of these things happened to me and my childhood friends who I hike with
every year in a national park. And it was through one of these childhood
friends, Regan Gammon, who you just met, that I learned about the National
Park Foundation. I'd traveled in our parks for years, but I didn't know
anything about the foundation until a very smart park superintendent --
Suzanne Lewis from Yellowstone -- nominated Regan to serve on the National
Park Foundation board.

I now know now that the National Park Foundation is the philanthropic arm
of the National Park Service. Its work allows individual citizens,
foundations and corporations to help protect their favorite natural and
historic landmarks. And the National Park Foundation is helping our young
people grow up as good stewards of their environment through programs like
First Bloom. Today, I joined students for a First Bloom activity at the
Hamilton Grange National Memorial, which is Alexander Hamilton's historic
home. This house, which is still on property that once belonged to
Alexander Hamilton but is now a city site on 141st street, is being
refurbished and restored by the National Park Service, including a national
park restoration architect and a national park landscape architect.

Fourth-graders from a nearby school gathered there together. They're
helping with the relandscaping at this location in Harlem between row
houses and high rises. They're helping to plant native plants and learn
about the local wildlife.

Over the coming months, they'll work with park rangers, the National Park
Foundation, and the staff from Harlem Boys and Girls Clubs to plant
historic gardens that will restore the lawn around Alexander Hamilton's
home.

The students I met with today showed me seeds of Black-Eyed Susans and
other wildflowers that they'd planted in compostable cups. They described
how they're mapping out landscaping for the park and studying the soil to
determine which plants it will sustain. And of course, we took part in one
of my favorite First Bloom activities: Shake-A-Shrub. (Laughter.)
Students literally shake a shrub and identify all the bugs and seeds that
fall out. One boy handed me a spider that he had found, which prompted a
search by all the other students for other interesting pieces of dirt or
bugs that they could give me to hold. Fortunately, the students'
enthusiasm was contagious, and the spiders didn't bite. (Laughter.)

The Hamilton Grange National Memorial is one of First Bloom's newest sites
and one of three major First Bloom sites here in the city.

In April, I joined students from the Boys and Girls Club of New York and
the Lower East Side Girls Club at another site in Battery Park. Young
people there spent weeks searching for native plants, identifying invasive
species and carefully designing their gardens. Today, thousands of
tourists can enjoy the two gardens these students planted on the way to New
York's most famous park: the Statue of Liberty.

From New York City to Los Angeles, First Bloom is helping kids get their
hands dirty -- and fall in love with America's parks. The program is just
one way the National Park Foundation encourages our youngest citizens to
gain a personal stake in our oldest treasures.

Another important part of the program that the National Park Foundation
supports is the Junior Ranger program. This program guides hundreds of
thousands of children through their favorite national park and helps them
learn more about the park and its history. We hope that some of these
Junior Rangers will actually grow up and become real park rangers.

First Bloom and the Junior Ranger program wouldn't be possible without the
support of private citizens like each one of you. The people in this room
have joined a long tradition of philanthropy in America's parks -- one that
includes some of our nation's most famous donors, like John D. Rockefeller
and Paul Mellon, and some of our nation's youngest donors, like
schoolchildren who donated pennies toward the restoration of the Statue of
Liberty in the 1980s.

Private contributions are especially important now as we prepare for the
100th anniversary of the National Park System in 2016. Last year, the
National Park Foundation hosted a Leadership Summit on Partnership and
Philanthropy in Austin, bringing together corporate leaders,
philanthropists, and park experts to encourage continued support of
America's parks.

President Bush has issued a Centennial Challenge in honor of the Park
System's upcoming milestone. He's called on individuals, foundations, and
the private sector to contribute to improvements in our national parks.
These new funds would help restore native plants to our parks, remove
invasive species, save sea turtles, install solar panels, and much, much
more.

Park Historian Barry Mackintosh wrote that, "Philanthropy is more than a
source of land and money for parks. It's a means of building and
strengthening bonds between parks and their advocates." For more than 40
years, the National Park Foundation has been leading this cause as the only
national charitable partner of America's parks. National parks are the
backdrop for many Americans' favorite memories -- including mine. Together
with the National Park Foundation, we can preserve these national wonders
and ensure park visitors make new memories for generations to come.

Thanks to everyone here for your love of our national parks and for
honoring me tonight.